Britain’s leading industrialists last night hailed George Osborne’s “Budget for the makers and the doers” as a huge stride towards making manufacturing competitive with Germany and other leading nations.

A multibillion-pound package to help manufacturers with rising energy costs and environmental levies was augmented by a string of Treasury initiatives — increased investment allowances, R&D tax breaks, export financing aid and support for apprenticeships — that were welcomed across British business.

Relief from the burden of green levies was regarded as a major breakthrough, particularly for the energy-intensive industries. The freezing of the carbon price floor — the Treasury’s main carbon emissions tax